Catalog of British Columbiana and Pacific Northwest Americana

A social history of Everett, Washington, from its earliest beginnings to the tragic and infamous event on November 5, 1916, which came to be known as the Everett Massacre

viii, 267 pages, 12 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 21 cm

C. P. Lyons’s Milestones on Vancouver Island chronicles the grueling pioneer colonization and resource extraction of a massive, heavily forested landmass completely severed from the North American continent by the treacherous waters of the Pacific Ocean. The narrative maps how the island’s formidable topography—defined by an impassable, glaciated mountainous spine and impenetrable coastal rainforests—forced early settlements to cling precariously to the sheltered eastern shoreline along the Strait of Georgia. By detailing the massive industrial efforts required to exploit rich coal deposits and vast timber reserves, the text illustrates how establishing robust maritime infrastructure and localized logging rail networks was strictly dictated by the severe overland constraints of this rugged terrain. Ultimately, the account demonstrates that conquering the extreme geographic isolation and dense biological barriers of this offshore frontier was the absolute prerequisite for integrating its immense natural wealth into the broader Pacific maritime economy.

viii, 315 pages : illustrations, maps ; 21 cm

C. P. Lyons’s Milestones on the Mighty Fraser chronicles the grueling pioneer and industrial subjugation of British Columbia’s most violent riverine corridor, a massive hydrological artery carving through the sheer granite walls of the Coast Mountains. The narrative maps how the treacherous, raging rapids and precipitous, impassable canyons of the Fraser River initially dictated all movement, forcing early gold seekers and fur traders to navigate an unforgiving aquatic highway bordered by impenetrable alpine wilderness. By detailing the monumental, explosive engineering required to blast the Cariboo Wagon Road and subsequent transcontinental railways directly into the canyon's sheer cliff faces, the text illustrates how maintaining inland connectivity was strictly dictated by the severe topographical constraints of this narrow, volatile gorge. Ultimately, the account demonstrates that artificially bridging this treacherous waterway and deploying massive mechanized infrastructure to conquer its towering continental barriers were the absolute prerequisites for transforming an impenetrable natural obstacle into the vital commercial gateway connecting the Pacific seaboard to Canada's resource-rich interior.

xxii, 130 pages, illustrations, maps

This important volume sheds new light on the stories and lives of mexicanos in Oregon: why migrants come to Oregon fields, construction sites, and warehouses; what their experiences are when they settle here; and how they adapt to life in the United States. Building on the work of earlier scholars and providing new and original research, Gonzales-Berry and Mendoza draw from the disciplines of history, anthropology, sociology, and gender and cultural studies to present a comprehensive view of the experiences of the Mexican-origin population in Oregon. The number of Latinos residing in Oregon has increased dramatically in the last two decades, leading to increased diversity across the state, particularly visible in the public school system and in agricultural and service occupations. This, however, is not a new phenomenon. There has been a settled Mexican-origin population in Oregon since the mid-nineteenth century. Mexicanos in Oregon explores this history of migration and settlement of mexicanos, highlighting their sustained practices of community building, their struggles for integration, and their contributions to the economic and cultural life of the state. Using archival records, primary and secondary scholarly works, demographic statistics, and personal testimonies, the authors create a picture of the economic, political, social, and cultural conditions that have shaped the lives of mexicanos. The blend of scholarly research and individual stories reflect the very human dimension and complex forces that make up the whole story of Mexican migration and settlement in Oregon. It is an essential resource for immigration scholars, historians, students, and for all Oregonians.

287 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

"Although Mexican migrant workers have toiled in the fields of the Pacific Northwest since the turn of the century, and although they comprise the largest work force in the region s agriculture today, they have been virtually invisible in the region s written labor history. Erasmo Gamboa s study of the bracero program during World War II is an important beginning, describing and documenting the labor history of Mexican and Chicano workers in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho and contributing to our knowledge of farm labor."--Oregon Historical Quarterly

xiv, 178 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Originally published in 1960 and long out of print, Mercer's Belles is a classic of Northwest history and even inspired a television series, "Here Come the Brides." Roger Conant's 1866 report of his shipboard travels with the "Mercer Girls" on their three-month voyage from New York to San Francisco and Seattle is here republished in its entirety, including Lenna Deutsch's invaluable reference material and the original photographs. A new foreword by Northwest historian Susan Armitage places the journal in historical perspective. Civil War losses had created a surplus of unattached women on the eastern seaboard. In the new western territories, women were sought as wives and teachers. Asa Mercer, president of the territorial university in Seattle, organized a project for female emigration. To a group of men in the West he promised, for a fee, to bring a suitable wife of good moral character and reputation. To the women of the East he offered free passage to Washington Territory. People greeted Mercer's plans with mixed feelings, and he never recruited the number of women he originally anticipated would make the long journey west. The story of "Mercer's Belles" came to occupy an important and interesting niche in regional history. Never has the story been told as thoroughly, as entertainingly, or as well as in Roger Conant's journal, accompanied by Lenna Deutsch's insightful reference material. It is fitting that Mercer's Belles now be made available for a new generation of readers.

1 online resource (xvii, 147 pages) : illustrations

Mercer Island Heritage by Judy Gellatly is a comprehensive local history, published by the Mercer Island Historical Society, that chronicles the evolution of this unique community situated in Washington's Lake Washington. Through detailed narratives and archival photographs, the book explores the island's transition from a secluded rural pioneer settlement into a bustling suburban city following the construction of the first floating bridge. Ultimately, it serves as an essential preservation of the region's early residents, civic milestones, and enduring local heritage.

vi, 185 pages : illustrations ; 28 cm

Accounts of an 1885 expedition led by Lt. Joseph P. O'Neil to make a reconnaissance of the northeastern section of the Olympics and an 1890 expedition that explored the region more in depth. Based mainly on O'Neil's manuscripts and and a hand-written account by Private Harry Fisher

xx, 483 pages, 11 unnumbered leaves of plates : illustrations ; 21 cm

Published in 1932 by Caroline C. Dobbs, Men of Champoeg: A Record of the Lives of the Pioneers Who Founded the Oregon Government is a highly romanticized biographical encyclopedia dedicated to the region's Anglo-American founding fathers. The text meticulously catalogs the lives of the fifty-two men who famously voted on May 2, 1843, at the Champoeg meetings to establish the Provisional Government of Oregon, a critical political maneuver that helped secure the territory for the United States against the interests of the British Hudson's Bay Company. Through glowing pioneer hagiography, Dobbs compiles their genealogies, overland migration struggles, and civic achievements, deliberately elevating a makeshift, ad-hoc frontier assembly into a sacred, foundational moment of democratic destiny on par with the American Revolution.

A keen insight drawn from the work is how the meticulous cultivation of a localized founding myth functioned to legally and morally erase pre-existing Indigenous sovereignty. By hyper-focusing the narrative of Oregon's political genesis exclusively on a singular, dramatic legislative vote between white American settlers and French-Canadian trappers, Dobbs conceptually redefines the Willamette Valley as a vacant geopolitical chessboard contested only by European powers. This historiographical maneuver successfully transforms the establishment of the Provisional Government into the miraculous birth of civilization out of an imagined wilderness, actively demanding that readers revere the architects of the pioneer state while completely obscuring the systemic dispossession of the Kalapuya people, whose ancestral lands served as the very stage for this celebrated frontier democracy.

6 preliminary leaves, 218 pages, 1 leaf, 9 unnumbered pages of plates : frontispiece, illustrations, portraits ; 21 cm

Memory Lanes of Old Everett and Its East Riverside by Helmer Malstrom and David Dilgard is a 1986 local history published by Memory Lane Publishers that captures the working-class heritage and early industrial landscape of this quintessential Puget Sound mill town. The book offers a richly detailed retrospective of early Everett, Washington, focusing heavily on the bustling East Riverside neighborhood where the city's vital lumber and shingle mills were concentrated along the Snohomish River. Blending pioneer anecdotes, grassroots documentation, and regional lore, the authors vividly resurrect the gritty, industrious spirit of the early 20th-century waterfront. Ultimately, it serves as an invaluable and nostalgic community resource for local historians seeking to understand the daily lives, economic roots, and enduring fabric of one of Snohomish County's most significant industrial centers.

xi, 188 pages : color illustrations ; 21 cm

Memories of the Skeena chronicles the grueling industrial expansion and precarious pioneer settlement along the turbulent, deeply carved river valleys of northern British Columbia's Skeena watershed. Wicks details how the region's formidable physical barriers—specifically the sheer, impenetrable slopes of the Coast Mountains and the treacherous, rapid-choked currents of the Skeena River itself—strictly dictated the margins of human survival and commercial salmon extraction. By mapping the arduous daily labor within isolated, water-bound canneries and the dangerous navigation of shallow-draft sternwheelers fighting upstream against massive seasonal floods, the narrative highlights the immense physical endurance required to carve an economy from this unforgiving northern environment. The utter lack of viable overland routes initially forced these remote outposts into an absolute reliance on the riverine and marine highways, completely anchoring their existence to the cyclical rhythms of the Pacific salmon runs and the severe coastal climate. Ultimately, this autobiographical record serves as a deeply localized spatial history, demonstrating how the immense hydrological force and extreme, mountainous topography of this Pacific Northwest river basin inherently shaped the fiercely resilient, strictly water-dependent character of the Skeena frontier.

215 pages, 16 unnumbered leaves of plates : illustrations ; 23 cm

Lucille Hathaway Hall’s Memories of Old Alturas County, Idaho chronicles the grueling pioneer colonization and frenetic mineral extraction of a massive, rugged jurisdiction carved directly out of the formidable Sawtooth Mountains and the high-desert plateaus of central Idaho. The narrative maps how the severe environmental realities of this remote alpine wilderness—defined by plunging subzero winters, impassable snowbound mountain passes, and sheer granite topography—initially paralyzed overland movement, forcing early prospectors and settlers to endure profound seasonal isolation. By detailing the explosive Wood River mining boom and the arduous construction of localized rail spurs and heavy ore-milling infrastructure, the text illustrates how extracting the region's immense subterranean wealth was strictly dictated by the urgent necessity to breach these towering continental barricades. Ultimately, the account demonstrates that deploying mechanized engineering to violently extract deep-vein silver deposits and artificially connecting this snow-choked high country to broader terrestrial transit networks were the absolute prerequisites for transforming an impenetrable mountainous frontier into a highly lucrative epicenter of inland industrial wealth.

72 pages : illustrations, map (on linging papers) ; 24 cm

Published by the Clear Lake Historical Association and compiled by Charles R. Hyatt, Memories of Clear Lake presents a nostalgic and detailed chronicle of the historic logging, rail, and community developments around the Skagit County settlement in northwest Washington. The book compiles vintage photographs, local newspaper excerpts, and personal reminiscences to trace how a bustling timber outpost grew and shifted alongside the changing regional economy. Through these collected records, the text preserves the domestic and industrial rhythms of families who built their lives amidst towering old-growth forests and local waters. A keen insight drawn from the work is how single-industry towns experienced a unique form of community permanence even after their primary resource vanished; by documenting how residents repurposed old logging infrastructure and community spaces for long-term rural living, the narrative reveals that the true legacy of these settlements was not the timber they exported, but the stubborn social bonds forged in the shadow of the mill.

vi, 105 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Memoirs of Puget Sound compiles the vivid frontier correspondence of early missionaries David and Catherine Blaine as they navigated the raw, heavily timbered shorelines of Elliott Bay during the earliest days of Seattle's settlement in Washington Territory. The letters extensively document the profound physical isolation and harsh climate of this nascent maritime encampment, detailing a muddy, stump-littered topography backed by an impenetrable wall of old-growth coastal forest. By recounting their reliance on the deepwater harbor for outside supply ships and their eventual flight to naval vessels during the Puget Sound War of 1855–1856, the Blaines highlight how precarious survival was on this remote territorial edge. Ultimately, this firsthand collection provides an invaluable geographic record of the rugged Puget Sound wilderness just as it began its dramatic transformation into a major coastal seaport.

David Blaine was the first Christian minister in Seattle, Washington Territory, and founder of the Methodist Episcopal Church (now First United Methodist Church) in that city

220 pages, 2 unnumbered leaves of plates : illustrations ; 29 cm

"The Memoir relates principally to the southern and middle portions of the northwest coast of this continent and the adjoining territories, which have for many years formed the subjects of discussions between the Governments of the United States, Great Britain, and Russia; and it is designed to show the origin, nature, and extent of the several claims, in order to afford the means of correctly estimating the justice of each"--Page iv

xi, 228 pages : folded map ; 24 cm

Marjorie M. Selody’s Meeting of the Winds: A History of Falkland provides a comprehensive local history of the upper Salmon River valley, drawing its title from the traditional Secwépemc designation Slahaltkan. The volume documents the arrival of early Euro-American cattle ranchers, homesteaders, and loggers who established agrarian holdings along the river bottomlands and sweeping benches of Yankee Flats and Glenemma. Selody details the industrial growth of Falkland following the discovery of high-grade gypsum deposits in the early twentieth century and the construction of the Canadian National Railway branch line, which connected local quarries and timber mills to regional markets. Through extensive settler genealogies, land grant records, and oral interviews, the work captures the shared agricultural and commercial development linking Falkland to neighboring rural valleys in Silver Creek and Deep Creek.

256 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 29 cm

“Metzger’s keen insights spring from a lifetime of direct observation while growing up along the river and recording its most subtle changes and the impact of the scarring in the eco-region it passes through. Written with passion and grace, the book is, in a sense, a love story for a once-wild river now tamed. Metzger asks, ‘Who gives us permission to intervene?’ She concludes that in the great web of history, nature will ultimately decide, and that we humans are left only to imagine.” —Carol Ann Bassett, author of Galápagos at the Crossroads: Pirates, Biologists, Tourists, and Creationists Battle for Darwin’s Cradle of Evolution. Abby Phillips Metzger’s book of personal stories recounts a forgotten Oregon river, the Willamette, as it was before white settlement. Once a rich network of channels and sloughs, the Willamette today bears the scars of development and degradation. Yet, through canoe trips and intimate explorations of the river, Metzger discovers glints of resiliency: a beaver trolling through a slough, native fish in quiet backwaters, and strong currents that carry undertones of the wild Willamette. Together with tales from farmers and scientists alike, these experiences lead Metzger to ask whether something scarred can fully heal, and whether a disjointed river can be whole again. A story of re-discovery as told by a learner, Meander Scars will appeal to readers of literary nonfiction, river advocates, naturalists, and outdoor enthusiasts interested in sustaining healthy river systems for themselves, their children, and beyond.

142 pages ; 22 cm

McMurray—gone with the trees chronicles the grueling industrial timber extraction and inevitable economic decline of an isolated mill town situated around a remote inland lake in the dense lowland forests of northwestern Washington. Bandazy details how the region's formidable physical barriers—specifically the massive, impenetrable old-growth cedar and fir canopies, the rugged, rain-drenched foothills of the Cascade Range, and the waterlogged, marshy terrain surrounding the lake—strictly dictated the margins of early human survival and aggressive resource exploitation. By mapping the immense physical labor required to lay precarious logging railroads deep into the steep, heavily timbered slopes and to process millions of board feet of lumber directly on the shores of Lake McMurray, the narrative highlights the monumental effort necessary to anchor a thriving community in this demanding temperate environment. The profound geographic isolation from major marine ports initially forced these remote lumber camps into a strict reliance on the precise topography of the lake for timber sorting and water supply, completely anchoring their fleeting commercial existence to the absolute exhaustion of the surrounding forest canopy. Ultimately, this local historical record serves as a deeply localized spatial history, demonstrating how the immense botanical density and specific lacustrine geography of this Pacific Northwest frontier fundamentally shaped the fiercely resilient, strictly resource-dependent character of the McMurray settlement before its eventual return to the forest.

McMurray and Medina are former logging towns in Skagit County, Washington

ix, 181 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 21 cm

Eva Emery Dye’s 1906 biographical narrative, McDonald of Oregon: A Tale of Two Shores, chronicles the trans-Pacific journey of Ranald MacDonald, the mixed-heritage son of Hudson's Bay Company factor Archibald McDonald and Chinook matriarch Raven, daughter of Chief Comcomly. Reared across the fur trade outposts of Fort George (Astoria) and Fort Vancouver, MacDonald’s early life unfolded within the contested maritime geography and riverine trade networks of the Lower Chinookan peoples along the mouth of the Columbia River. Dye details his calculated venture aboard the American whaling bark Plymouth, staging an intentional solo landing off Hokkaido that allowed him to serve as Tokugawa Japan’s first native English teacher to official shogunate interpreters in Nagasaki. Ultimately, the narrative illustrates how Pacific Northwest Indigenous kinship networks and commercial whaling routes intersected, framing MacDonald’s trajectory as a vital human conduit linking the Columbia River fur frontier directly to the diplomatic opening of East Asia.

395 pages, 6 unnumbered leaves of plates + 4 unnumbered pages publisher's advertisements : illustrations ; 21 cm

Smallwood presents a biography of Senator Jim McClure, covering his career as a Congressman in Idaho to his 18 years of service in the US Senate until 1991. The biography is based on interviews with McClure and those who worked with him. It begins with how the Republican candidate for Idaho's 1st Congressional District seat died in a plane crash, leaving the possibility open for McClure, and goes back to McClure's family history and childhood, followed by his education as a law student and the period when he was a practicing lawyer, and his work as a politician during the terms of six presidents. --Publisher

xvii, 485 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Authored by local historian Doug Devin, Mazama the Past 100 Years: Life and Events in the Upper Methow Valley & Early Winters chronicles the century-long social and environmental evolution of an isolated high-country community in north-central Washington. The book draws on oral histories, diaries, and archival photographs to document the arduous lives of early homesteaders, miners, and trappers who braved deep winter snows and rugged mountain terrain along the eastern slopes of the Cascade range. Through these collected records, the text captures how a sparse population of self-reliant outdoorsmen gradually transformed into a tight-knit recreational and residential valley. A keen insight drawn from the work is how seasonal isolation acts as a powerful community filter; the extreme winter climate of the upper Methow Valley routinely weeded out casual settlers, leaving behind a resilient population whose social cohesion was entirely dependent on mutual survival tactics and an enduring tolerance for wilderness seclusion.

155 pages : illustrations, maps ; 28 cm

"A history of one of the first ships in the fleet of the British Columbia Ferries system. It is a memoir of the ship, her role in serving the Southern Gulf Islands (SGI) and other parts of coastal B.C., and a description of the her relationship with the people of the SGI and elsewhere who rode her over the decades. It celebrates her retirement from regular service, and the 60th anniversary of the B.C. Ferries service in 2022."-- Provided by publisher

pages cm

Mayne Island & the Outer Gulf Islands: A History by Marie Elliott chronicles roughly 120 years of social, economic, and political development across Mayne and its neighboring southern Gulf Islands. Drawing on archival records, oral histories, and pioneer accounts, Elliott highlights how maritime transportation fundamentally shaped local livelihoods—from early homesteading, logging, and hothouse tomato farming to postwar tourism. The book also examines the cultural fabric of these relatively remote communities, notably detailing the significant contributions of Japanese-Canadian settlers before their wartime internment. Finally, it traces the modern struggles over ferry service, rapid land development, and conservation that ultimately spurred the creation of the Islands Trust to protect the region.

x, 152 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

In 1887, more than 30 Chinese gold miners were massacred on the Oregon side of Hells Canyon, the deepest canyon in North America. Massacred for Gold, the first authoritative account of the unsolved crime—one of the worst of the many crimes committed by whites against Chinese laborers in the American West—unearths the evidence that points to an improbable gang of rustlers and schoolboys, one only 15, as the killers. The crime was discovered weeks after it happened, but no charges were brought for nearly a year, when gang member Frank Vaughan, son of a well-known settler family, confessed and turned state’s evidence. Six men and boys, all from northeastern Oregon’s remote Wallowa country, were charged—but three fled, and the others were found innocent by a jury that a witness admitted had little interest in convicting anyone. A cover-up followed, and the crime was all but forgotten for the next 100 years, until a county clerk found hidden records in an unused safe. In bringing this story out of the shadows, Nokes examines the once-substantial presence of Chinese laborers in the interior Pacific Northwest, describing why they came, how their efforts contributed to the region’s development, and how too often mistreatment and abuse were their only reward.

208 pages : illustrations, map, portraits ; 23 cm

Donald Shannon presents the third in his series of books on Indian attacks on emigrant trans on the Oregoni Trail west of the Rocky Mountains. Massacre Rocks and City of Rocks details attacks that took place in 1862 at those two sites in what is now southeast Idaho.

xii, 240 pages : illustrations, maps, portrait ; 23 cm.